Wire-feeding device, in particular for a binding machine



R. E. GRENON Oct. 29, 1968 WIRE-FEEDING DEVICE. IN PARTICULAR FOR ABINDING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 23, 1966 MZkMJ 9/ 147' TOF/VE 5' R. E. GRENON 3,408,015

Oct. 29, 1968 WIRE-FEEDING DEVICE. IN PARTICULAR FOR A BINDING MACHINEFiled June 23, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 29, 195% R. E. GRENON3,408,015

WIRE-FEEDING DEVICE. IN PARTICULAR FOR A BINDING MACHINE Filed June 25,1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 15 I I lil ,wvgyroe ewe was; sea/0M 3,408,015WIRE-FEEDING DEVICE, IN PARTICULAR FOR -A BINDING MACHINE -Ren EugeneGrenon, Courtry, France, assignor to Botalam, Paris, France, acorporation of France FiledJune 23, 1966, Ser. No. 559,915 Claimspriority, application France, June 30, 1965,

22,919 Claims. (Cl. 242-47.01)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention is directed to a wire-feedingdevice, in particular. for the binding machines which are employed inthe trussing yards of i-ronworks.

The device in accordance with the invention essentially comprises awire-feeding wheel which is rotatable within a stationary ring, saidwheel bein provided at its periphery with an annular groove foraccommodating the wire and said stationary ring being provided with aWire inlet passage and awire-outlet passage, said passages being bothtangent to said annular groove of the wheel and adapted if necessary tointersect without coming into contact, said wheel additionallycomprising at least one clamp which is intended to grip the wire eitherfor the purpose of drawing said wire from the inlet passage towards theoutlet passage or in the opposite direction, means being provided on theone hand for driving the wheel in rotation either in one direction or inthe other and on the other hand for controlling the gripping andreleasing action of the clamp independently of the movement of rotationof the wheel.

Preferably, the means for cont-rolling the gripping and releasing actionof the clamp comprise a plunger which is axially slidable in the axis ofthe wheel.

In one form of construction of the invention, the clamp comprises astationary jaw mounted in a slot of the wheel in the line of extensionof one side of the annular groove and a movable jaw in oppositely-facingrelation thereto and located substantially in the line of extension ofthe other side of the annular groove, said movable jaw being carried byone end of a lever which is pivoted about a pin located parallel to theplane of the wheel and at right angles to a radius thereof, the otherend of said lever being supported on the plunger which slides axially inthe axis of the wheel so as to control the gripping or releasing actionof the jaws.

Said sliding plunger can be disposed within the hub of the wheel andthrust by a coaxial compression spring against said other end of thelever so as to initiate the gripping action of the jaws, a jack beingprovided for the purpose of producing action in the opposite directionon said other end of the lever in opposition to said spring so as toinitiate the releasing action of the jaws.

As an alternative form, said other end of the lever can be pivotallycoupled to one end of said plunger, the other end of said plunger beingcoupled, preferably by means of a reduction-gearing system, to adouble-acting control jack which initiates the gripping and releasingaction of the jaws.

In all cases, the device in accordance with the invention makes itpossible either to feed or to withdraw the wire according to thedirection of rotation of the wheel, with the result that said device canusefully be associatedwith a binding machine of the type employed in thetrussing yards of ironworks, whilst a distribution system of a typewhich is known per se can be employed for co-ordinating the movements ofrotation of the wheel either in one direction or in the other and theclamping and releasing movements of the jaws with the movements of thebinding machine components.

One form of construction and an alternative form of constructionaccording to the invention are illustrated my way of example in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified front view of the device;

FIG. 2 is a simplified sectional view taken along line IIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a detailed sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 2;and

FIG. 4 is a sectional vew of an alternative form which is similar toFIG. 2.

In the form of construction which is illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, thedevice comprises a wheel 1 which is rigidly fixed to a hub 2, said hubbeing mounted on ball bearings 3 in a bearing shell 4 of a stationaryframe 5. There is mounted on said stationary frame 5 a ring 6 which iscoaxial with the wheel 1.

The wheel 1 is provided at its periphery with an annular groove 7 whichis enclosed by the ring 6 and forms a circular guide duct for the wire8.

A portion of the ring 6 is constituted by a member 6a which is piercedby a passage 9 for the introduction of the wire and a passage 10 for thedelivery of the wire. These two passages are both tangent to thecircular duct which is formed by the annular groove 7 and the ring 6 andintersect within the member 6a without coming into con-tact with eachother, both passages being slightly diverted for this purpose ifnecessary.

There is mounted on the wheel 1 a clamp comprising a stationary jaw 11carried by a yoke 12 which is fixed in a slot 13 of the wheel, and amovable jaw 14 carried by one end of a lever 15 which is pivoted in saidyoke about a pin 16 which is located parallel to the plane of the wheeland at right angles to a radius thereof. The stationary jaw 11 islocated in the line of extension of one side of the annular groove 7 ofthe wheel 1 and the movable jaw 14 which is in oppositely-facingrelation thereto is located substantially in the line of extension ofthe other side of said annular groove.

The other end 15a of the lever 15 is applied against one end of aplunger 17 which is slidably mounted in the axis of the hub 2 of thewheel 1. A coaxial compression sprin 18 is applied respectively againstan internal annular shoulder of the hub 2 and against an annularshoulder of the plunger 17, thereby pressing lsaid plunger against theend 15a of the lever 15 and consequently having a tendency to clamp themovable jaw 14 against the stationary jaw 11. The action of the spring18 is limited by a stop ring 19 which is rigidly fixed to the other endof the plunger 17 and is abuttingly applied against the correspondingend of the hub 2.

A plunger 20 of a jack 21 is capable of applying force in the otherdirection against the end 15a of the lever 15 so as to separate themovable jaw 14 from the stationary jaw 11 while compressing the spring18.

The wheel 1 can be driven in rotation either in one direction or theother from a motor 22, a driving pinion 24 being keyed on the shaft-end23 of said motor and coupled by means of a chain 25 to a driven pinion26 which is keyed on the hub 2 of the wheel 1.

The operation of the device can readily be understood. L

The wire 8 passes through the inlet passage 9 of the member 6a whichforms part of the ring 6, passes around the wheel 1 within the circularduct formed by the annular groove 7 of said wheel and the stationaryring 6, and is finally discharged through the outlet passage 10 of saidmember 6a.

As long as the jack 21 remains inoperative, the lever is subjected tothe pressure of the spring 18 by means of the sliding plunger 17 and thewire 8 is gripped between the jaws 11 and 14. If the wheel 1 is drivenin rotation either in one direction or in the other by setting the motor22 in motion in the appropriate direction, the wire 8 will be fed in aforward direction or, on the contrary, drawn backwards.

On the other hand, if the jack 21 comes into operation, the jack plunger20 which exerts a thrust on the end 15a of the lever 15 whilecompressing the spring 18 initiates the opening of the movable jaw 14with respect to the stationary jaw 11 and the wire is no longer clamped.The wheel 1 can then be caused to rotate either in forward motion orbackward motion without displacing the wire 8.

In its application to a binding machine of the type employed in thetrussing yards of ironworks, the initial operation of the motor 22either in one direction or the other and the initial operation of thejack 21 are controlled in dependence on the movements of the bindingmachine components in order to supply said binding machine with asuitable length of wire, then to pull on the wire with a view totightening the bond formed by the machine.

In the alternative form which is illustrated in FIG. 4, the samerelative arrangement of the wheel 1 and of the stationary ring 6 isagain shown. However, the hub 2 of the wheel 1 is driven from the motor22 by a reduction-gear train 33, 34. In addition, the plunger 17 ispivotally coupled at one end to the extremity 15a of the lever 15 and atthe other end to one extremity 27a of a lever 27, the other extremity ofwhich is pivotally mounted at 28 with respect to the stationary frame 5.The cylinder of a double-acting control jack 29 is pivotally mounted ata fixed point 30 whilst the plunger stem 31 of said jack is pivotallymounted at 32 at an intermediate point of the lever 27. Said jack 29accordingly serves to initiate the sliding motion of the plunger 17either in one direction or the other and consequently the clamping orreleasing action of the movable jaw 14 with respect to the stationaryjaw 11. Otherwise, the operation of this alternative embodiment isidentical with the form of construction which is illustrated in FIGS. 1to 3.

The invention is in any case not limited to said form of construction orto said alternative form, in which detail modifications could be madewithout thereby departing either from the scope or the spirit of theinvention.

What I claim is:

1. A wire-feeding device, in particular for a binding y machine,comprising a stationary ring and awire-feeding wheel rotatablypositioned within said stationary ring, said wheel being provided on itsperiphery with an annular groove for accommodating a wire and saidstationary ring being provided with a wire inlet passage and a wireoutlet passage, said passages .both being substantially tangential tosaid annular groove, said wheel further having clamping means mountedthereon for gripping a wire for moving same from one passage toward theother passage, drive means connected'to said WhfiCl for rotatablydriving same in opposite directions, and means for controlling thegripping and releasing action of said clamp means independently of therotational movement of said wheel.

2. A wire-feedingdevice as defined in claim 1, wherein said means forcontrolling the gripping and releasing action of said clamp meansincludes a plunger which is axially slideably mounted for movement alongthe r0tational axis of said wheel.

3. A wire-feeding device as defined in claim2, wherein said clamp meansincludes a stationary jaw mounted in a slot formed in said wheel in theline of extension of one side of said annular groove and a movablejaw inoppositely facing relation thereto and located substantially in the lineof extension on the other side of said annular groove, said clamp meansfurther including a lever pivotably mounted on said wheel for movementin a radial plane extending substantially transverse to the plane ofsaid wheel, said movable jaw being carried by one end of said lever, theother end of said lever being supported on said plunger.

4. A wire-feeding device as defined in claim 3, wherein said wheel-isformed with a hollow hub with said plunger being slideably disposedwithin said hub, resilient spring means coacting with said plunger forurging same against said other end of said lever so as to initiate theclamping action of said jaws, and jack means coacting with the other endof said lever in opposition to said resilient spring means forinitiating the releasing action of said jaws.

S. A wire-feedingdevice as defined in claim 3, further includingdouble-acting jack means operatively coupled to one end of said plungerfor controlling the slideable movement thereof in opposite directions,the other end of said plunger being pivotally coupled to said other endof said lever, said double-acting jack means controlling the grippingand releasing action of said jaws.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,154,260 10/1964 Stanislao242-4701 3,262,622 7/1966 Conover 226-182 X FRANK J. COHEN, PrimaryExaminer. N. L. MINTZ, Assistant Examiner.

